{"id":11714,"date":"2025-07-15T00:55:31","date_gmt":"2025-07-14T23:55:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/amp.ngo\/?p=11714"},"modified":"2025-07-14T15:20:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-14T14:20:10","slug":"barangay-official-denies-npa-finance-officer-allegation-cites-mistaken-identity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amp.ngo\/en\/barangay-official-denies-npa-finance-officer-allegation-cites-mistaken-identity\/","title":{"rendered":"Barangay official denies NPA finance officer allegation, cites mistaken identity"},"content":{"rendered":"

Carmilo Tabada, a barangay councilor and human rights activist from Trinidad, Bohol has come forward to strongly deny allegations linking him to the communist rebel group New People\u2019s Army (NPA), following a news article<\/a> published on May 25, 2025. The newspaper Philippine Star reported<\/a> the arrest of an alleged NPA finance officer identified only as \u201cCarmilo\u201d.<\/p>\n

In an open letter<\/a> that was published on the Facebook page of the network Defend NGOs Alliance, Tabada called<\/a> on media and the police to practice fairness and accountability. He urged<\/a> The Philippine Star and the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group of the Philippine National Police (CIDG-PNP) to verify facts more carefully and avoid perpetuating unverified claims that endanger lives and reputations.<\/p>\n

Tabada explained<\/a> in his letter that while the news report did not include his surname, the details in the article clearly pointed to him as the person involved. He denounced<\/a> the claim that he was \u201cnabbed\u201d or \u201ccollared\u201d by the CIDG, calling it inaccurate and damaging.<\/p>\n

Tabada explained<\/a> that upon learning of the warrant issued against him for alleged violation of Republic Act 10168 (Terrorism Financing Prevention and Suppression Act), he voluntarily appeared before the Talibon court and local police on May 20, 2025, to post bail. He emphasized<\/a> that no arrest or handcuffing occurred and challenged the authenticity of the photo used in the article, which showed a handcuffed individual he claimed was not him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was never handcuffed. The photo of a handcuffed person shown in your news is definitely not me,\u201d Tabada stated<\/a>, expressing concern for his personal safety and public reputation.<\/p>\n

The original report also quoted<\/a> CIDG Director Maj. Gen. Nicolas Torre III as saying that \u201cCarmilo\u201d was the fourth most wanted fugitive in Central Visayas and served as the NPA\u2019s financial officer. \u201cI am vehemently belying this accusation and condemning this baseless and careless pronouncement and accusation of a PNP-CIDG officer who is supposed to serve and protect human rights of every citizen,\u201d Tabada wrote<\/a> in his letter.<\/p>\n

A former worker of a non-governmental organization (NGO) advocating for Boholano farmers, Tabada detailed<\/a> previous legal harassment, including a 2021 raid at his home and a now-dismissed charge of illegal possession of firearms and explosives.<\/p>\n

Despite being imprisoned for over a year, he was re-elected<\/a> as barangay councilor in 2023.<\/p>\n

Aside from his work as a village councilor, Tabada also served<\/a> as coordinator of the NGO Farmers Development Center (Fardec), composed of marginalized farmers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought I could already live in peace and safety with my family,\u201d he wrote<\/a>. He received a new subpoena for alleged terrorist financing in December 2024. Tabada maintains<\/a> that the charges are fabricated.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Photo \u00a9<\/b><\/span><\/span> Karapatan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Carmilo Tabada, a barangay councilor and human rights activist from Trinidad, Bohol has come forward to strongly deny allegations linking him to the communist rebel group New People\u2019s Army (NPA), following a news article published on May 25, 2025. The newspaper Philippine Star reported the arrest of an alleged NPA finance officer identified only as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":11469,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[73,65,63,58,59],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11714","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aktuelles-en","category-disinformation","category-human-rights-defenders","category-human-rights-news","category-internal-affairs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/amp.ngo\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11714","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/amp.ngo\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/amp.ngo\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amp.ngo\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amp.ngo\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11714"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/amp.ngo\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11714\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11803,"href":"https:\/\/amp.ngo\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11714\/revisions\/11803"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amp.ngo\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11469"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/amp.ngo\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amp.ngo\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amp.ngo\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}